


as if i could forget

by purpleeyesandbowties



Series: now that we're free [3]
Category: EOS 10 (Podcast)
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Feels, M/M, and then it kind of got away from me, inspired by the man who didn't recognize his wife after surgery, yeah sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-07
Updated: 2016-06-07
Packaged: 2018-07-12 23:34:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7128494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purpleeyesandbowties/pseuds/purpleeyesandbowties
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the first time, Akmazian’s eyes focused on Ryan. His mouth dropped open. Ryan took the opportunity to hold a straw to his mouth and told him to drink. Akmazian’s lips closed over the straw obediently. After he’d swallowed some of the water (and spilled down his front) he spoke again.<br/>“Holy….shit.”<br/>“What is it?” Ryan asked.<br/>“Holy shit,” he repeated. “Who are you? Did the doctor send you in? Because you’re, like, eye….. eye candy. Wow.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	as if i could forget

**Author's Note:**

> you know that video where that guy didn't recognize his wife after surgery and hit on her? that's where this started and then some feels crept in, sorry. (im sadhipstercat on tumblr, come say hi!) disclaimer: i have little to no medical knowledge

Ryan sat in the waiting room, trying his best not to worry. Obviously, Akmazian would be fine. Yes, this surgery was an unexpected thing, but at least he wasn’t bleeding out from a blaster wound this time. _That_ had been a terrifying day. This was much more manageable—Ryan could deal with sickness. He knew exactly what needed to be done.

\--

Ryan had woken up early that morning to the sound of Akmazian holding in whimpers of pain.

“Babe, what’s wrong?” Ryan had asked, putting his hand on Akmazian’s forehead. He was burning up with fever, his shirt soaked with sweat. Ryan clicked on the light, fully awake.

“Hurts,” Akmazian grunted out, squeezing his eyes closed.

“What hurts? Where?” Ryan asked, already scanning him for injuries. Akmazian shook his head. He curled up on himself, pulling his knees up to his chest.

“Stomach,” he managed. “Hurts.”

Ryan pushed Akmazian’s legs away to examine his stomach, slipping into his doctor mode. Akmazian’s hands covered the left lower side of his stomach protectively. Ryan pulled Akmazian’s hands away and put his own over the spot.

“Does this hurt?” he asked, not putting pressure on it.

Akmazian nodded. The skin felt raised under Ryan’s fingers, inflamed and painful.

“I’m going to press on it,” Ryan warned.

He pushed down. Akmazian let out a hard gasp of air. He let go, and Akmazian curled up again.

“Hurts worse,” he panted.

“It hurts more after I let go?” Ryan asked. Akmazian nodded. Ryan rolled out of bed, throwing on a shirt and pants.

“Okay, babe. You’re going to be okay but we’re gonna go to the infirmary.”

“What’s wrong?” Akmazian asked as Ryan helped him up. He draped one of Akmazian’s arms over his shoulders to help him walk upright.

“Did you ever have your appendix removed? When you were a kid?”

Akmazian grunted. “No money for anything like that.”

“Okay, then that’s probably what it is.”

Akmazian nodded but didn’t answer. Ryan knew it was taking a lot of energy to stay quiet and stay moving. He paged the infirmary on the way, and when they were a hallway away, Jane came running up. She took Akmazian’s other arm and put it over her shoulder. Ryan straightened up a bit, relieved to have help.

“What is it?” she demanded.

“Appendicitis.”

“Are you sure? Did you do the rebound test?”

Ryan threw her an unimpressed look and she rolled her eyes. “Okay, okay, sorry. Okay, so Urvidian is on call tonight. We’ll take it from here. I assume you can find the waiting room yourself.”

She took Akmazian and left Ryan standing in the hallway alone.

\--

Two hours later, Ryan had tried napping in the uncomfortable waiting room chairs, downed two cups of stale coffee, and ran through his entire mental repertoire of ‘things that could go wrong in an appendectomy’. If things were going right, Akmazian would be out of surgery in twenty minutes. Maybe less. He ran hand through his hair. In an effort to feel a little less frazzled, he’d run back to his and Akmazian’s quarters for a quick shower and change of clothes. He grabbed a change of clothes for Akmazian, too, and a book to read that was remaining unread.

Finally, Jane popped her head into the waiting room.

“He’s out of surgery. Everything went fine. In recovery right now.”

“Let me help,” Ryan said. Jane smiled tiredly and handed him a bottle of water.

“Like I could stop you. Try and get him to drink something, maybe eat a cracker or two. You know the drill.”

Ryan headed for the door immediately. He stopped just shy of the hallway.

“Jane? Thanks.”

Jane slapped him on the shoulder. “Of course. You’re not the only one on this ship that cares about him, you know. And this was nothing big.”

“I know, but still. Thanks.”

Jane smiled. “I’ll stop by in a few minutes to see how he’s doing.”

\--

Akmazian was just waking up when Ryan walked in. Carefully, mindful of the IV in his arm, Ryan took Akmazian’s hand. His head lolled against the pillow, his usually sharp eyes unfocused and roaming. Ryan knew very well what anesthetic could do to someone, but it still caught him off guard.

“Hey,” he said softly. “How are you feeling?”

Akmazian wrinkled his nose. “Ouch.”

Ryan laughed. “I bet. Do you know where you are?”

He frowned, looking like he was thinking very hard. His words were slightly slurred together. “Hospital? I think.”

“That’s right. You had your appendix removed.”

“Did they ask me first? Bet those fuckers didn’t ask.”

Ryan chuckled, shaking his head. “They didn’t ask you because you were in too much pain to answer. They asked me, and I said it was okay.”

“Why’d they ask….you?”

For the first time, Akmazian’s eyes focused on Ryan. His mouth dropped open. Ryan took the opportunity to hold a straw to his mouth and told him to drink. Akmazian’s lips closed over the straw obediently. After he’d swallowed some of the water (and spilled down his front) he spoke again.

“Holy….shit.”

“What is it?” Ryan asked.

“Holy shit,” he repeated. “Who are you? Did the doctor send you in? Because you’re, like, eye….. eye candy. Wow.”

“No, the doctor didn’t send me in,” Ryan answered, trying to smother his laughter. He didn’t figure Akmazian, who could hold his liquor astonishingly well, would be so loopy and dazed after a relatively low dose of anesthetic.

“Oh,” Akmazian said, mulling it over. Ryan held the straw to lips again, but Akmazian pushed it away. Jane entered quietly, but Akmazian didn’t notice her.

“Really, though, who are you? Are—holy shit, you’re a model. You have to be a fucking model. Oh my god.”

“I’m not a model, I’m a doctor,” Ryan said patiently, throwing a glance at Jane. She smiled but stayed mercifully quiet.

“A doctor? Hottest doctor I’ve ever seen and – holy shit. You’re _my_ doctor? You took out my ‘pendix? You were… _inside_ me?”

With a look of intense concentration, Akmazian shut one of his eyes in what Ryan had to assume was a clumsy attempt at a wink. “Do it again?”

Ryan burst out laughing. Akmazian frowned. “What?”

“Nothing. Here, you should eat this.”

Ryan pushed a cracker into Akmazian’s hand. Slowly he took a bite. Mouth full of crumbs, he continued, “I would love to suck your dick. You’re so hot.”

“Akmazian!” Ryan exclaimed, turning red. Jane chortled in the background.

“This is why I became a nurse,” she muttered. Ryan flipped her off without looking and she laughed again.

“Just eat your cracker,” he told Akmazian. Akmazian took another thoughtful bite.

“Want to go out with me?” he asked.

Instead of answering, he checked Akmazian’s IV drip.

“Why not?” Akmazian persisted. His  speech was already getting clearer and more coherent, but he still didn’t seem to recognize Ryan. Ryan would be concerned except this kind of short-term amnesia was fairly common after surgery. If he still didn’t remember by the time he was checked out of recovery, then Ryan would start to worry.

 “Are you—shit, you taken already? You gotta tell me right now if I don’t have a chance with you. ‘Fore I get my hopes up all the way. It’s gonna hurt like a goddamn bitch if you’ve got a girlfriend or somethin’. I’m, like, already half in love with you.”

Ryan wiped a piece of cracker off Akmazian’s chin, smiling.

“As it so happens, I’m married,” he said.

Akmazian looked down. Ryan did his best to keep a straight face.

“I’m sorry for flirtin’ with you. I’m sure your wife is the happiest woman alive.”

“My husband, actually,” Ryan said, unable to resist teasing Akmazian.

“Oh,” Akmazian said. He sighed deeply and went quiet for a few moments. To Ryan shock, he sniffled. The hand without the IV swiped at his eyes.

“Are you _crying?_ ” Jane asked in disbelief, coming up from the other side of the room. “Ryan, you’ve got to tell him. This is just cruel.”

“Tell me what?” Akmazian asked.

“I’m sorry, Akmazian, I didn’t mean to make you cry. I just want to tell you about my husband. He’s recovering from surgery right now. He’s really handsome and I love him a lot. His name is Akmazian.”

“Akmazian,” Akmazian repeated bitterly. He paused. “Wait. That’s….”

“It’s you, you idiot. You hit on your own husband.”

Akmazian craned his neck up to stare at Ryan. Then his head thumped back against the pillow.

“Holy shit. What the fuck. You….I’m your—we’re _married_?”

“Yeah, we are,” Ryan said. Akmazian stuck the next cracker in his mouth whole and chewed loudly.

“Huh. How long? Do we have kids?”

“Almost a year. No kids yet.”

“Huh.”

He thought about this for a few minutes. After another cracker and a drink of water, he asked, “have we kissed?”

Jane guffawed. “Yeah, Ryan, have you kissed your husband?”

“Shut up, Jane.” He leaned in closer to Akmazian, lowering his voice. “Yes, we’ve kissed.”

“Oh.” Akmazian whispered. “Have we….done other things?”

“Yes,” Ryan whispered back.

“Holy shit,” Akmazian said. He let his head fall against the pillow again. To himself, he mumbled, “I hit the fucking jackpot.”

\--

Akmazian dozed for a few minutes. Jane went over Akmazian’s chart with Ryan and headed off to check on other patients. The sound of the door sliding shut roused Akmazian.

“Hey,” he said quietly. “If you’re my husband, will you kiss me?”

“Not till you brush your teeth. Post-surgery breath is worse than morning breath.”

Akmazian looked away sadly. “I knew it. I knew you were lying. A guy like you would never marry me.”

He withdrew his hand from Ryan’s hold and turned his head away.

“What are you talking about?” Ryan asked. Akmazian didn’t look at him. His words came out in a jumbled mess.

“A guy like you—you’re a doctor, a good person, you help people. I’m a criminal. I’ve done stuff. Hurt people. I wouldn’t marry you unless you knew the truth about me, and you wouldn’t marry me if you knew. So you have to be lying. We’re not married. You wouldn’t have married me.”

Ryan kneeled on the ground next to Akmazian’s cot. He took Akmazian’s hand again.

“Hey. Look at me, okay? Please?”

Slowly, Akmazian turned his head. His eyes were in focus now. He was almost sure the anesthetic amnesia had worn off completely. If he knew Akmazian—and god, he did know him, he  knew him better than he knew himself—Akmazian was hiding behind the safety net the meds provided to say what had probably been on his mind for ages. He could always claim later that it was the drugs talking, not him, that he had no doubt Ryan loved him. Ryan decided to go along with it. This conversation had been too long coming.

“Akmazian. I love you. I know you did terrible things, but my hands aren’t clean either. We’ve both done things we’re not proud of. I love you anyway, despite what you’ve done, and you love me, despite what I’ve done. I don’t regret marrying you. You’re the best part of my life. And the courts found you innocent of your crimes, sweetheart. You need to let go of it if you ever want to move on. I’ve let go of the past, yours and mine both. I want you to let go with me.”

Akmazian closed his eyes. Ryan touched his cheek, brushing away the tear crawling down it. He leaned in, kissing Akmazian’s cheek. Akmazian turned his head at the last moment so Ryan’s mouth caught the corner of his. Akmazian’s hand came up to cradle Ryan’s cheek and kissed him. Their mouths slotted together perfectly, like they always had, and Akmazian let out a little sigh. Ryan kissed him once more and leaned back on his heels.

“Don’t think we’re married now? I can show you the certificate. Or our matching rings. Or I can call in Jane and she can recount the wedding in detail.”

“I remember now,” Akmazian said softly. “I just….I don’t know. I wanted to make sure.”

Ryan didn’t know what to say to that, so he just rubbed his thumb against Akmazian’s hand.

“Why didn’t you wake me up last night when you started to feel sick? You were almost crying when I finally woke up.”

Akmazian shrugged. “I don’t want to trouble you with my problems.”

“Ak. I’m your husband. Your problems are my problems. And also I’m a doctor, so your medical problems are doubly mine.”

He dropped his mockingly stern voice. “You can always come to me. For anything. That’s what couples do, okay?”

“Okay,” Akmazian whispered.

“Good. Now let’s get you out of here. I signed you out with Jane, so we can just go home. As a medical professional, I’m recommending a week of bed rest and a few more days for some quality time with your husband. How does that sound?”

“Darlin’, that sounds perfect.”


End file.
